Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1887-07-08
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This letter. I date from my native state o
Ohio. 1t is written at Mansfield, one of tn,
growing, though not booming, towns Of tn,
state. A town OF 10, 600 by the last census, 4
has 1900 today, and its rich agriculture
surroundings show the same condition a!
farm lands do over the whole state. Senator
Sherman, whose home is here, lately said tina,
he did not believe the county of Richland had
any more people upon its farms than it had
when he first went to congress thirty and
more years ago. The growth has been in the
towns and cities, and this is true of real estate
values as well as in numbers. Farm
/ lands have not increased in value to any de-
| gree during the past decade in Ohio, and
! though the state is rich in agriculture and Is
the first wool growing state of the Union,
| they remain about the same with the chances
| in favor OF a fall Farm lands in Ohio aver.
age about S47 an acre for the cleared land,
and OF the 100000 farms in the state four
| out OF every five are occupied by owners
The state is rich, and its people are
| worth, according to the estimated actual
| valuation of the property of the state, more
than LOCO per capita, Or about $1,000 per
family. It is the third state in population.
and it bids fair to rank well up in manufac-
turing and commerce. Among its cities those
Of the northern part of the state have, think
grown faster than those of the south. Cleve-
land Is fast stepping on the heels of Cincin-
natl, and Toledo has had a vigorous growth
Columbus and Toledo are both claiming Sc, 900
people, and towns of the rank of Akron.
Youngstown, Canton and Mansfield have
jumped upward about so per cent. since 1880.
So
The state now ranks second in the petro-
leum production Of the United States, and it
will probably surpass all others in its natural
gas. Nearly every town in the eastern part
has one OF more manufactures, and the gas
and oil OF the west promise to turn these to
similar direction Here, at Mansfield, there
are pump works which send pumps all over
the world; machine works which make steam
engines, two Touring mills of several hundreds
OF barrels a day each in capacity. and
works which ship thrashing machines and
reapers everywhere. Then there are stove
works, brass works and other like industries.
1t is the same with q number of towns in
Ohio. Canton has. venture, q dozen of
machine works and factories, and Akron
huns with manufacturing industry and
makes, among other things, nearly all the
oat meal eaten in the United States. Cleye
land Is almost a second Pittsburg, and
Youngstown has rolling mills and wealth
galore. Cleveland is perhaps the richest city
in the country in respect to the number of its
millionaires, and the elegant living of its
people, and the living comforts of people of
small means in these small Ohio cities and
towns would surprise the residents Of large
cities. All through northern Ohio there has
been great architectural revival, the old
box shaped and fat rooted house and the old
ridge roofed house Of twenty years ago giving
place to cottages which would not be ont Of
place at fashionable seaside resort. Men of
small incomes, say $500 to 1880 year, in
this state now live in houses and have furni-
ture which a decade ago they could not have
afforded on twice the salary am surprised
at what a pretty frame house of six, eight or
ten rooms can be built for-from 81 200 to
S25OO-and there are some 81, 900 houses in
Mansfield and Cleveland which would make
the dweller IN 81 600 year New York fat
turn green with envy. They have all the
conveniences, and some 81 500 houses are SIM
piled with electric bells. The people in the
most OF these small Ohio towns own their own
houses, and rronert-. rs rr'o will rent fora
good interest on its value Provisions ara
cheap, and the prices Of meat and yepeta hles
are about half what they cost in New York
or Washington. Here at Mansfield are. 7 an,
told, more telephones used than at any other
town OF Its size in the country, and the tele-
phone find to be much more generally used
here than in the east Nearly every Ohio
town Of any size is lighted by the electric
light, and Mansfield has laid the rails and
Will begin to run an electric street railway on
the Fourth OF July. The town, like Rome. has
many hills, and the dragging of the cars I'M
and down these will be by means of electricity
to the car by a wire stretched
on poles along the line and over the head OF
The car This wire with the electric light
wires, the telephone, and those of the tele
graph, make network of wire enveloping in
its meshes the whole town.
.*+
There is probably no better educated com-
munity In the United States than that Of
the western Reserve just north of here
and these Ohio towns of which 7 cite
Mansfield as type, are full of cultivated
people. They have public libraries, and it is
rare TO ind one which has not as many liter
airy and musical organizations as it has social
sets. There is club here Of young mar
ned and unmarried people who have been
taxing German lessons, and who meet
once week to talk German. There
s a musical society known rs the
beethoven society, which gives excellent CON-
'erts and which made the entrance fee to its
asst concert consist of book, which each Of
me audience had to bring, and the whole
we're to be donated to the public library of
The town. The result was IT'S very good
good books, ranging from "Ben HurS IN
caesars DE Bello Calico" Then Ohio moo.
dc are great magazine readers, and one Of
ne leading magazines is found in nearly
very family. They patronize the news
,apers and the average citizen of a town Of
ms size takes his home daily and one Of
lther Cleveland or Cincinnati. Mansf,ald
as Two daily papers. morning and evening.
no there Is today not town of 10000 peo-
ne IN the state which has not its own GailT, d
'ith Its telepraphic service giving it the As. t
ociated Press or the United Press dis. .
atches from all over the world. At least
ne German paper will be found in most Of
lch towns, and Cincinnati has several good
erman dailes. Cleveland publishes an ex-
client magazine on the historical order. and
oiumous has two newspapers which are
idely quoted. Every one has heard Of Pc
'oieum V. Nasby's Toledo Blade, of Edwin
OWES Leader, OF Halstead and Deacon
miths Commercial Gazette and Of John Nc.
cans Cincinnati Enquirer Ohio has them